It is a presumptuous and dangerous thing to claim that the future will vindicate us. “You’re on the wrong side of history” isn’t an argument against a position or practice but a mere boast. Unless, of course, the One who knows all things has told us about the future. The world today is in something of a tizzy based on the recent leak of a draft of a majority opinion of the Supreme Court which is predicted to undo the most evil decision the court has ever made, Roe v. Wade. As wicked as the Dred Scott decision was, it is dwarfed by Roe. Our Father has not revealed, to me at least, whether this is in fact what will happen. Justice Roberts has confirmed the authenticity of the leaked document, but affirmed that it is just a draft. What God has revealed is that the wrong side of history is for goats, the right side for sheep. History will, because it ends in the final judgment from the Ruler of heaven and earth, expose Roe as the Moloch worshipping evil that it is.
It is vital that we not only believe this but cling to it. Because the rhetoric is about to get scorching hot. Any assault on the perceived sexual liberty of the world is met with howls of protest. This, however, will be worse. Roe, when it is overturned, will no longer protect their bloody sacrament. Those of us who rejoice over such a decision, and those who bring the battle to every state in the union, will be subjected to hatred, violence, accusation, vilification, mockery. We will be seen as knuckle dragging baboons, clueless barbarians, heartless Nazis. And that will hurt.
But we must remember that we are receiving such for this reason- we believe it is the God given duty of the civil government to protect all image bearers, whatever age they might be, and wherever they might be at the moment. Do not allow the rhetoric to become the story. Do not, in fact, let our hardship become the story. The problem with Roe is not that it makes Christians who oppose it lose standing in the broader culture, but that it protects the murder of babies. A little social ostracism isn’t a burden. It is, in fact, a mark of honor according to our Lord (Matt. 5: 10-12).
We must not shrink back, nor dream of returning to the Egypt of cultural respectability. We must not seek out a non-existent middle ground. We must not apologize for laboring for protection of babies. That said, neither now, nor if the day actually comes that Roe is overturned, then, is not the time to dance in joy. Give thanks, yes. Praise God, yes. That time, however, will be better spent mourning for the more than 60 million dead since Roe. We must remember that that’s not a statistic but a tragedy, that each victim was an individual bearer of God’s image, as human and as valuable as each one of us. When, if, this decision comes down, that day will be D-Day. Then comes the long, bitter march to Berlin. And when He returns, judgment.